
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 19, 1990                   TAG: 9004190773
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Short

SOVIETS CUT GAS FLOW TO LITHUANIA

The Kremlin sharply curtailed supplies of natural gas to Lithuania today, hours after it halted the flow of crude oil to the republic for refusing to scrap laws promoting independence, Lithuanian officials said.

Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis said Moscow's economic embargo was tantamount to its recognizing his Baltic republic's independence.

A Soviet energy official, however, said the Lithuanians got what they deserved for defying President Mikhail Gorbachev, who on Friday threatened to cut off supplies unless they rescinded their independence-oriented laws.

A Lithuanian government spokesman appealed over Vilnius Radio today for fuel conservation, "and maybe we will not be intimidated by these sanctions."

The flow of natural gas was shut off in three pipelines - two from Latvia and one from Minsk in Byelorussia - reducing supplies to Lithuania by more than 80 percent, according to officials of Lithuania's parliament, the Supreme Council.

A fourth pipeline from Slonim in Byelorussia that supplies Lithuania continued to provide 3.5 million cubic meters of gas to the republic, guaranteeing "a normal supply of gas for residents and communal domestic use in the Lithuanian S.S.R.," parliamentary officials quoted the Byelorussian gas concern's telegram as saying.

That leaves Lithuania with only 16 percent of the gas it needs per day. Lithuania uses an average of 18 million cubic meters daily for industrial and domestic use.

Lithuanian officials estimate the republic has enough oil to last six weeks to three months.

by CNB